Types of mental health problems – for 11-18 year olds

Types of mental health problems

This page gives some examples of mental health problems. It also covers some feelings, experiences and behaviours. These can be part of a mental health problem or experienced on their own.

Examples of mental health problems

If the way we think, feel or act becomes difficult for us to cope with, this might be a sign of a mental health problem.

You may hear or prefer to use these terms instead of ‘mental health problem’:

• Mental illness
• Mental ill-health
• Mental health conditions
• Mental health disorders
• Poor emotional health or wellbeing
• Poor mental wellbeing

There’s no right or wrong term. We all have our own preferences.

Depression

You may hear depression being described as low mood. But it can affect our lives in more ways than feeling a bit sad or low. It might also include feeling numb or hopeless for a long time.

These feelings might affect your life in different ways. For example, you might not feel able to sleep or eat, or you may feel tired often. You may also find it harder to take care of yourself and stop doing things you enjoy.

Anxiety

Anxiety is when we feel scared, worried or afraid. We all experience anxiety from time to time. Some level of anxiety can also help keep us safe.

But when these feelings last a long time, they can have a big impact on our life.

For example, you might worry about things that could happen. And avoid things like going to school or being around other people. You might also experience panic and panic attacks.

Eating problems

Eating problems are when we have a difficult relationship with food. They can sometimes be part of an eating disorder or disordered eating. Often they’re a way to cope with other difficult feelings or experiences.

Anyone can experience an eating problem – whatever their age, gender, weight or background.

Eating problems can seriously impact our relationship with food and our life. We may not be able to stop thinking about food and avoid friends, school or work.

Eating problems can sometimes relate to our body image – the way we think and feel about ourselves and our body.

For more information and advice on where to get help with eating problems, visit the Beat website.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has two main parts ­− obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are thoughts, feelings, images, urges, worries or doubts that keep coming into our mind. These can feel stuck, like we can’t get rid of them. It can feel very distressing.

Compulsions are things that we feel we must do, to make us feel better about the obsessions. We might do these physically or in our head.

Compulsions might make you feel better at first. But you may find the more you do a compulsion, the stronger the urge is to do it again. And difficult thoughts and feelings can come back afterwards too.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is when we experience extreme highs and lows of mood.

Sometimes we might feel very energetic and excited, sleep less or take more risks than usual. Doctors call this mania or hypomania.

Other times we can feel depressed and low, or have thoughts of self-harm or suicide. These extremes can last for a few days or longer. And can feel really scary.

We all have mood changes from time to time. But if we have bipolar disorder, these changes can be very distressing and have a big impact on our life. You could also experience other things, like psychosis.

Mental health problems don’t define you or make you less of a person no matter what other people think. You are your own person – Aisha, 18

Personality disorder

Doctors may diagnose us with a personality disorder if the way we think, feel and behave is difficult for us.

For example, we might struggle to manage our emotions. We might also struggle with how we see ourselves and others.

Some health professionals disagree on what personality disorder is. And whether young people should get this diagnosis. It isn’t always clear. It can be hard to get a diagnosis as a young person.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is something a psychiatrist may diagnose if you’ve experienced one or more traumatic events. You could also be diagnosed with complex PTSD if you experienced trauma at an early age or it lasted for a long time.

You might relive what happened, have nightmares or avoid things that remind you of what happened. It can be really distressing to live with. And you could experience these things right away or a while after.

Going through trauma doesn’t always mean we will be diagnosed with PTSD or complex PTSD.

You can find out more in our information about trauma.  

Other feelings, behaviours and experiences

We all have feelings and experiences that can be hard to cope with sometimes. Like if we get angry or upset after an argument or feel nervous before an exam.

This can impact our behaviour. For example, we might not want to do things we usually enjoy.

Sometimes these feelings, experiences, and behaviours, are part of a mental health problem. But we might experience them on their own too. You might also hear them called symptoms.

Remember: you deserve support whatever you’re going through. And however long you’ve been feeling this way.

Anger

We can all feel angry at times. But anger can become a problem when it gets out of control, or we can’t manage it safely. For more information, see our pages on understanding anger and tips on managing anger.

Panic attacks

Panic attacks can feel different for everyone.

But lots of us say they feel like a sudden and intense feeling of fear and anxiety. Our body can react in different ways and we might feel like we can’t control what’s happening inside or around us.

We might also might find it hard to breathe, feel faint or have a faster heart rate than usual.

Low confidence and self-esteem

Sometimes we don’t feel good about ourselves. We might doubt ourselves or think we're not good enough. If you’ve felt this way for a while, then you might be struggling with low confidence or self-esteem.

This can make our mental health worse or may be part of a mental health problem. But there are lots of things you can do to improve the way you feel about yourself. Visit our page on tips for building confidence and self-esteem.

Stress

Many different things can cause stress. And stress can affect us all in different ways. If stress becomes overwhelming, this can affect our mental health. For example, some of us feel stressed before, during and after exams. We have tips on how to cope with exam stress.

It's important to know that you are not defined by your struggles… and that ultimately you are stronger than them.

Sleep problems

Sleep is closely linked with mental health. If we’re struggling with our mental health, this can affect how well we sleep. And when we’re struggling with sleep, this can affect our mental health.

We can all struggle with sleep sometimes and some of us experience sleep problems. For more information and tips on how to cope, see our pages on sleep and mental health and tips to improve your sleep.

Dissociation

Dissociation can make us feel disconnected from ourselves and the world around us. For example, we may feel detached from our body or feel like the world around us isn’t real. But everyone’s experience is different.

Many of us experience dissociation during our life, but it can also be part of a mental health problem.

Trauma

Trauma is a response to something that has happened to us. It could be from one or more very stressful, frightening or distressing experiences. Or it could relate to something that happened over a long period of time.

We might have flashbacks, where we relive the event. Or we might have sleep problems, like nightmares and night terrors. Some of us might also dissociate. We could experience these things right away or a while after.

We all respond to and process things differently. So something that is traumatic for us might not be for someone else. And that’s okay, there is no shame in experiencing trauma.

Psychosis

Psychosis means we experience the world in a different way to others.

We might hear voices, or have hallucinations and delusions. Our speech or thoughts might feel confused and different to usual. Because we all think, feel and experience the world in our own way, it can sometimes be hard to know what’s real or not. 

You may only have one episode of psychosis. Or have a few episodes over a period of time. Some of us might live with it for most of the time.

It can link to mental health problems like bipolar or schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a specific diagnosis based on experiencing psychosis symptoms. You can find more information about schizophrenia on the YoungMinds website.

But psychosis can also happen without a diagnosis of a mental health problem. It may relate to other things going on in our lives, like experiencing trauma.

Here is some more information on what you may experience:

Self-harm

Self-harm is when we hurt ourselves emotionally or physically on purpose.

See our pages on understanding self-harm and coping with self-harm for more information and tips on how to cope.

Suicidal feelings 

Suicidal feelings are when we have thoughts or feelings about ending our life. This can be scary, confusing and overwhelming. The YoungMinds website has information pages about suicidal feelings and suicidal thoughts.

Although some of us might feel like we want to die, some might feel like we don’t want to live the life we have anymore. Our experiences can be really different.

It’s really important that you talk to someone if you’re feeling this way.

How is neurodiversity linked to mental health?

Neurodiversity is a way of understanding that different people's brains work in different ways. But there's no right or wrong type of brain.

Some people think in a way that society expects, and this is sometimes called being neurotypical. 

Being neurodivergent means our brain works in a way that might be seen as different to others. We may interact with the world in ways that others don't always understand. This can be because of conditions like autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But there are lots of other ways we can be neurodivergent.

Being neurodivergent is different to having a mental health problem. But if we're neurodivergent, we might struggle more with our mental health and feelings. This could be because we:

• Don’t have the right support
• Feel misunderstood
• Find some environments stressful or overwhelming

The YoungMinds website has information pages on autism and mental health, and ADHD and mental health. Whatever you’re going through, you deserve support.

What if people don't understand?

Lots of us experience mental health problems or difficult feelings and experiences. But not everyone understands them.

People might say or do things that are hurtful or upsetting. This is called stigma. Some mental health problems are less understood or more stigmatised than others.

It’s not on you to try to teach those around you about mental health. But you can share our information on understanding mental health to help.

If someone doesn’t understand you or is unkind to you, it’s not your fault.

Here’s some advice from young people on how to cope if you don’t feel understood:

Where can I get support?

You deserve help and support at any time. You could:

• Talk to someone you trust – see our tips on how to open up to others.
• Look for places to get support and treatment – see our information on where to look for support.
• Look after your wellbeing – our page has helpful tips on ways to look after your wellbeing.
• Contact a helpline or textline – our useful contacts page provides a list of organisations you can reach out to for confidential and anonymous support.
• Connect with others – you can speak to young people going through similar things on online message boards like The Mix or Childline.